The University of Notre Dame will be a partner in NASA’s Solar System Exploration Analysis Virtual Institute (SSERVI), a new organization that expands the scope of the NASA Lunar Science Institute to a single that contains close to-Earth asteroids and the moons of Mars.
Clive R. Neal, a Notre Dame planetary geologist, was part of a Universities Area Analysis Association (USRA) crew that was chosen for SSERVI membership. Scientists from USRA’s Lunar and Planetary Institute, the Johnson Space Center and the Arecibo Observatory and researchers from six universities, like Notre Dame, will be 1 of eight first teams in SSERVI.
Beneath the auspices of SSERVI, the staff will proceed to integrate the science and exploration activities in a coordinated research of the moon and the asteroids that bombard the Earth-moon technique. Those studies will include observations of present near-Earth asteroids, studies of past collision occasions in the Earth-moon technique and the collisional evolution of the asteroid belt that delivers those objects to near-Earth space.
Neal is a member and former chair of NASA’s Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, which is responsible for analyzing scientific, technical, commercial and operational issues connected with lunar exploration. The group provides findings from these analyses to NASA through the NASA Advisory Council.
He also is a member of NASA’s Lunar Science Institute, which is a pick group of scientists tasked with increasing the nation’s technical abilities in lunar science and establishing educational possibilities in space science.
Contact: Clive R. Neal, 574-631-8328, Clive.R.Neal.one@nd.edu
Notre Dame a partner in NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute
